LONDON • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday held his first Cabinet meeting since the election as he sought to outlaw extending the Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020.
He welcomed back his ministers after what he called a "seismic" result in the Dec 12 election.
"The voters of this country have changed this government and our party for the better and we must repay their trust now by working flat out to change our country for the better," he said during the meeting at his Downing Street office.
"We should have absolutely no embarrassment in saying we are a people's government and this is a people's Cabinet."
Mr Johnson said senior ministers needed to work "flat out" to repay the trust of traditional Labour voters who switched to his centre-right Conservatives.
The government's agenda should be focused on social justice, better infrastructure and "extending opportunity across the whole of the United Kingdom", he added.
He announced his first Cabinet appointments on Monday and signalled a desire for continuity as he focuses on leaving the European Union on Jan 31.
Ms Nicky Morgan, who had said before the election that she was standing down as a Member of Parliament and leaving politics, will stay on as culture secretary after she was hastily appointed to the unelected House of Lords.
Mr Johnson has also appointed Mr Simon Hart, who voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum but then set up a parliamentary group to deliver a Brexit deal, as Welsh secretary.
Other key positions in the Cabinet, including chancellor of the exchequer, home secretary and foreign secretary, are expected to remain unchanged.
As well as providing stability in the run-up to Brexit, Mr Johnson, who plans a wider reshuffle of his top team after the deadline at the end of next month, will have Ms Morgan by his side to advise on the role of China's Huawei Technologies in UK telecommunications, a thorny issue as Britain seeks trade deals with the rest of the world after leaving the EU.
The Prime Minister also intends to introduce his Brexit Bill to Parliament on Friday, his spokesman, Mr James Slack, told reporters.
He is planning to change the law to guarantee the Brexit transition phase is not extended, setting up a new cliff edge for a no-deal split with the EU at the end of next year.
Mr Johnson wants to deliver his election promise to ratify a new free trade agreement with the bloc before the bridging period maintaining the status quo runs out on Dec 31, 2020.
EU leaders have warned that it is highly unlikely that negotiators will be able to complete the kind of deal Mr Johnson wants, which he has modelled on Canada's agreement with the EU, in the 11 months between Brexit day on Jan 31 and the December deadline.
The EU-Canada deal took seven years to finalise.
Mr Johnson's gambit is the latest sign of intent as he seeks to force through Britain's exit from the 28-nation bloc without further delay. After winning a big majority in last week's general election, the Prime Minister now has the power to do as he pleases on Brexit, without fear that Parliament will thwart his plans.
He will start by putting the divorce part of the Brexit deal to a vote, potentially as soon as Friday. Once MPs have ratified that, the UK will leave the EU by Jan 31.
The planned legislation will include legal text to prevent the government from extending the transition period and delaying the day the UK stops being subject to EU laws, even if no new trade terms have been secured in time, an official said.
And with a sizeable Conservative majority in the House of Commons, securing a mandate to ratify the divorce deal with Brussels is not expected to be a problem.
BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
